Band:	Shadows Fall
Album:	Threads Of Life
Style:	Modern thrash metal
Release date:	April 2007

01. Redemption
02. Burning The Lives
03. Stormwinds
04. Failure Of The Devout
05. Venomous
06. Another Lost Hero
07. Final Call
08. Dread Uprising
09. The Great Collapse
10. Just Another Nightmare
11. Forevermore

Of all of their albums, this is the one the frustrates me the most. Not only was the sound quality for this album bad, it was also possibly the most comercial attempt they've ever made. I remember they were dropping the video to "Redemption" on MTV every hour on the hour, how much more comercial can you get than that?! It's riddled with weak, and frankly pathetic riffs. It's solo's are generic and recycled. The only real improvement is the bass playing. Behold Shadows Fall's sixth studio album, behold this vile thing that is called "Threads Of Life."

Every instrument on this album, except for, as previously stated, the bass, is a disapointment. The guitar is weak, watered down, and unfocused. This can be clearly seen on the opening and promotional track, "Redemption." They just throw out random riffs, and they sound like if you turned down the overdrive on their amps anymore than they already are, they won't even have distortion anymore. The vocals are, if anything, simply sad. Brian used to be so great, he would growl beautifully and would on occasion sing clean. Now it's like he is completely incapable of growling, and it just doesn't suit him to have a completely clean voice. The Drum work lacks any real technicality. It's not as heavy on double bass or fill work like previous albums, it's almost as if Jason keeps the brutality to a minimum on this one. I gotta ask, what happened to these guys? I guess this is what happens when you sign to a large commercial label.

There are a few good songs on this album. An example of this would be "Failure Of The Devout." It has some very good melodies, especially compared to the rest of the album, and the rhythm work is quite exceptional. The Lyrics for the entire album, thankfully, are just as good as they always have been and tend to focus on the same subject matter as past albums. So these I suppose are redeeming qualities within the album. However, when all the detractors are considered, this album is certainly more disapointing than it is good. I don't want to say it's total trash, but all I have to say is, if I was the person reading this review right now, I wouldn't go out and buy this, it isn't worth your money.

Album Highlight; Failure Of The Devout